The Council of Europe will take meas- ures to combat violence against women, including domestic violence. It will set up a task force to evaluate progress at national level and establish instruments for quantifying develop- ments at pan-European level with a view to drawing up proposals for action. A pan-European campaign to combat violence against women, in- cluding domestic violence, will be pre- pared and conducted in close co- operation with other European and na- tional actors, including NGOs.

The Council of Europe will take meas- ures to combat violence against women, including domestic violence. It will set up a task force to evaluate progress at national level and establish instruments for quantifying develop- ments at pan-European level with a view to drawing up proposals for action. A pan-European campaign to combat violence against women, in- cluding domestic violence, will be pre- pared and conducted in close co- operation with other European and na- tional actors, including NGOs.

Since 1995, violence against women (VAW) has captured the attention of the government and legislators in the Philippines as a result of the demand of a growing women’s human rights movement and the State Obligation of the Philippine Government under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, its Optional Protocol as well as other international conventions. The Beijing Conference on Women in 1995 heightened the demand of women’s rights advocates for laws protecting women from violence all over the world.

Progressive reforms in laws protecting women were brought about by several factors beginning with the democratization process that started in the 1986 People Power Revolution after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship, the 1987 Constitution that has specific provisions on the rights of women and fundamental equality before the law of men and women, the increasing number of women’s organizations in the provinces with links to Metro Manila based women’s human rights organizations, and the participation of women legislations who are becoming increasingly aware of the need for gender equality and the elimination of VAW. This period marks the contribution of women legislators who were elected in the 1992 elections and thereafter.

Since 1995, violence against women (VAW) has captured the attention of the government and legislators in the Philippines, propelled by the demand of a growing women’s human rights movement and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, its Optional Protocol as well as other international conventions. The Beijing Conference on Women in 1995 heightened the demand of women’s rights advocates for laws protecting women from violence.

Progressive reforms in laws protecting women was brought about by several factors beginning with the democratization process that began in the 1986 People Power Revolution after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship, the 1987 Constitution that has specific provisions on the rights of women and fundamental equality before the law of men and women, the increasing number of women’s organizations in the provinces with links to Metro Manila based women’s rights organizations, and the participation of women legislations who are becoming increasingly aware of the need for gender equality and the elimination of VAW. This period marks the contribution of women legislators who were elected in the 1988 elections and thereafter.

*The full article is available through this link. This article may be available free of charge to those with university credentials.

There is increasing pressure on domestic violence victim service programs worldwide to demonstrate the impact of their work on those using their services. Many workers within such programs are also interested in understanding more about what is and is not working well for service users. The current project was a multi‐country collaboration to design an outcome evaluation model that would be useful to domestic violence programs, easy and inexpensive to implement, and that would reflect the diverse experiences, needs, and concerns of women experiencing domestic abuse. Focusing at this initial stage on evaluating refuges, the project partners incorporated empowerment evaluation methods and feminist principles to create the model. This article presents the five phases of model development and provides preliminary findings from a pilot evaluation to demonstrate its utility. Next steps and recommendations are then discussed.

*The full article is available through this link. This article may be available free of charge to those with university credentials.

This study examined the association between sexual relationship power, intimate partner violence, and condom use among African American and Hispanic urban girls. In this sample of 56 sexually active girls, 50% did not use condoms consistently and therefore were at higher risk for acquiring HIV or sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Teens who experienced more intimate partner violence had a significantly higher likelihood of inconsistent condom use and therefore a greater risk for HIV/STDs. Girls' sense of sexual control in their relationships was not directly associated with inconsistent condom use but was inversely related to verbal and emotional abuse. Interventions aimed at reducing HIV/STD risk for adolescent girls need to address patterns of dominance and control in adolescent relationships as well as multiple forms of partner violence. This suggests the need for multilevel intervention approaches that promote girls' agency and multiple ways to keep girls safe from perpetrators of partner abuse.

*The full article is available through this link. This article may be available free of charge to those with university credentials.

Although researchers have found that survivors of intimate partner violence seek support from a multitude of sources, ranging from professionals to informal support networks, little is known about the extent to which community members reach out to help survivors. This study explored the type of support provided to survivors and various factors that relate to individuals' willingness to help. Survivors were more likely to be helped by women, younger individuals, those who strongly endorsed criminal justice interventions for perpetrators, and those who perceived intimate partner violence as a frequently occurring issue in their communities. Two additional factors were found to relate to an individual's likelihood of assisting others, including witnessing intimate partner violence as a child and prior victimization. Further research is needed in this area to explore helper, survivor, and contextual characteristics that may affect one's likelihood to offer assistance to survivors.

Violence against women, including domestic violence, is one of the most serious forms of gender-based violations of human rights. It deprives women of their ability to enjoy fundamental freedoms and represents a serious obstacle to equality between women and men.

Despite positive and significant achievements in policies and practices, violence against women in its various forms is still widespread at all levels of society in all Council of Europe member states.

An overview of figures for prevalence of violence against women suggests that one-fifth to one-quarter of all women have experienced physical violence at least once during their adult lives, and more than one-tenth have suffered sexual violence involving the use of force. Secondary data analysis supports an estimate that about 12% to 15% of all women have been in a relationship of domestic abuse after the age of 16. Many more continue to suffer physical and sexual violence from former partners even after the break-up.

Can be located by downloading zip file of the 34th assembly, document "AoD34-Doc13.08[EN].pdf"

Until 1992, the term femicide was used in the press and society to refer colloquially to the killing of women. In that year, Diana Russell and Jill Radford imbued the concept with legal and social content in their text Femicide: The Politics of Women Killing, defining it as the murder of women, by men, because they were women.They developed the term to refer to the gender-based motives behind the deaths of women at the hands of men: attempts to control their lives, bodies, and/or sexuality, to the point of punishing with death those who did not accept such subjection.

Subsequently, Marcela Lagarde took Russell and Radford’s notion of femicide and developed it as feminicide, rather than femicide, which would become the literal translation. For Lagarde, while femicide means the killing of women without specifying the causes of such deaths, the term feminicide lends itself better to covering the gender-based reasons and social construct underlying such deaths, as well as the impunity surrounding them.Lagarde uses the term feminicide in analyzing the murders of women in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

However, at the international level, the terms feminicide and femicide are being used indistinctly to refer to the same problem, although in the case of the Caribbean, no such disagreement exists and only the term femicide is used.

Moreover, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) adopted the term feminicide in 2007, in the case of Bolivia, based on discussion in the “In-depth study on all forms of violence against women” of the United Nations Secretary-General, who also refers to this problem as feminicidio [in Spanish, but the English version uses only femicide – tr.].4/ Prior to that, the IACHR referred to this problem as murder of women, and expressed its concern by convening a thematic hearing on this problem (2006). The IACHR has admitted four cases on murders of women in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

The Council of Europe Task Force to Combat Violence against Women, including Domestic Violence (EG-TFV), was set up following a decision taken at the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe held in Warsaw on 16 and 17 May 2005. The Action Plan adopted at the Summit defines future action by the Council of Europe and envisages activities to combat vio- lence against women, including domestic violence. Section II.4 of the Plan states:

“The Council of Europe will take meas- ures to combat violence against women, including domestic violence. It will set up a task force to evaluate progress at national level and establish instruments for quantifying develop- ments at pan-European level with a view to drawing up proposals for action. A pan-European campaign to combat violence against women, in- cluding domestic violence, will be pre- pared and conducted in close co- operation with other European and na- tional actors, including NGOs.”

Accordingly, eight international experts in the field of preventing and combating violence against women were appointed to the Task Force by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. The Steering Committee

for Equality between Women and Men (CDEG) proposed six members of the Task Force, while the Parlia- mentary Assembly and the Congress of Regional and Local Authorities of the Council of Europe proposed one member each. The appointments were made in consultation with the Committee of Ministers' Thematic Co-ordinator on Equality between Women and Men (TC-EG) and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR, or the Optional Protocol) is the instrument that will make this possible, once it becomes operational. THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL provides groups and individuals the opportunity to bring cases (submit communications) to the Committee on ESCR - the body in charge of monitoring the Covenant compliance by state parties - for violation of their economic, social and cultural rights, when access to justice is denied or not available in their own countries.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) is pleased to present this final report on the 2008 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). The survey is the ninth in a series of surveys conducted every five years since 1968 designed to assess the demographic and health situation in the country. The 2008 NDHS provides basic indicators on fertility, childhood mortality, contraceptive knowledge and use, maternal and child health, nutritional status of mothers and children, and knowledge, attitude and behavior regarding HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. For the first time, data on violence against women were collected in this round of the DHS. Fieldwork for the 2008 NDHS was carried out from August 7 to September 27, 2008 covering a national sample of approximately 13,000 households and 14,000 women aged 15 to 49 years.

The Security Council Resolution recognizes a direct relationship between the widespread and/or systematic use of sexual violence as an instrument of conflict and the maintenance of international peace and security; commit the Security Council to considering appropriate steps to end such atrocities and to punish their perpetrators; and request a report from the Secretary General on situations in which sexual violence is being widely or systematically employed against civilians and on strategies for ending the practice.

Click on "Final report of the Expert Group Meeting" at the given link to access PDF

The United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDAW/DESA) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are convening an expert group meeting on good practices and lessons learned in regard to legislation on violence against women, to be held at the United Nations at Vienna, from 26 to 28 May 2008.

"Measures for the assessment of dimensions of violence against women: A compendium" - 9th bullet point

This is a compendium of measures for the assessment of dimensions of violence against women. It also includes measures regarding gender and sexual norms and attitudes. However, it does not cover measures related to child abuse, child sexual abuse, or sexual harassment.

At the request of the USAID East Africa Regional Mission in collaboration with the Inter-agency Gender Working Group (USAID), MEASURE Evaluation developed this compendium with a technical advisory group (TAG) of experts. Initially, a steering committee of experts met over a period of several months to select TAG members, develop a framework for the compendium and generate an initial list of indicators for wider input from the TAG. An extensive literature review was conducted to document any indicators that were already being used. The TAG included individuals from USAID, OGAC, CDC, United Nations organizations including WHO, UNFPA and UNHCR, NGOs, prominent researchers and programmatic experts in the field. Indicators were developed to measure the following areas within VAW/G: 1. Magnitude and characteristics of different forms of VAW/G (skewed sex rations, intimate partner violence, violence from someone other than an intimate partner, female genital cutting/mutilation and child marriage); 2. Programs addressing VAW/G by sector (health, education, justice/security, social welfare); 3. Under-documented forms of VAW/G and emerging areas (humanitarian emergencies, trafficking in persons, femicide), and preventing VAW/G (youth, community mobilization, working with men and boys). The indicators can also be used by programs that may not specifically focus on VAW/G, but include reducing levels of VAW/G as part of their aims.

Zhen Zhen Zheng (ZZZ), a Chinese national, was trafficked to the Netherlands for the purposes prostitution. In April 2003, after escaping and after being put out on the street by a woman who took her in and forced her to do heavy housework, ZZZ applied for asylum in the Netherlands. ZZZ was pregnant at the time of her asylum application.

In May 2003, Dutch authorities dismissed ZZZ’s asylum claim because ‘she could not give details about her trip from China to the Netherlands, did not have identity documents and waited for eight months before applying for asylum.’ Subsequent appeals proved unsuccessful.

In January 2007, ZZZ submitted a communication to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) in which she claimed that the Netherlands had violated her rights in article 6 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

This document contains a compilation of the general comments or general recommendations adopted, respectively, by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee against Torture and the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Committee on Migrant Workers has not yet adopted any general comments.